Assignment Information:

When constructing the bad news letter, you want to convey the information as quickly as possible. You also want to be sensitive to the needs of your readers. The way you present negative information can have a substantial impact on how the reader views the information and your role in presenting it. The main idea here is that, unlike in good news letters, you want to embed the negative information in secondary positions: in the center of paragraphs, letters, and, if possible, sentences.

Your goals in writing a bad news letter should be threefold:

• Convey your message so that your audience understands a firm decision has been made.
• Help your audience understand that your decision was fair and just, and that all information was duly considered.
• Allow your audience to remain well disposed toward your business, division, and hopefully, you.

Follow these guidelines when writing the bad news letter:

• Open politely and professionally, always with an eye toward the reader's hopes and feelings.
• Outline the details of the issue.
• State the decision or news.
• Explain the reasons behind the decision and why it's important to the reader.
• Close politely and professionally.

The bad news should be placed in the middle of the letter, after the buffer. It should also be de-emphasized visually and grammatically. You can do this by:

• Minimizing the space and time devoted to it.
• Subordinating it in a complex or compound sentence ("We always enjoy discussing opportunities with qualified candidates, and while we would like to hire everyone we talk to, circumstances prohibit us from doing so.")
• Embed it in the middle of the paragraph.

For this assignment, you will use the guidelines you've learned to convey a piece of bad news. For the assignment, think of an example from your work. It can be virtually anything, as long as it involves bad news. Construct a Bad News Letter using an opening, body, and closing.

Assignment Requirements:

Follow Letter format outlined on pages 117 and 121

Proper Heading and Closing

1-2 FULL pages or longer

Single spaced

1 inch margins

12 point Times New Roman font

1^st, 2^nd, and 3^rdperson Point of View

No Contractions

Present Tense Only